The Real American College Life

These years, from one campus to another campus, experienced one after another graduation, China, Britain, the United States, in fact, are the same: a tense defense, solemn ceremony, weird photo shoots, crazy party, reluctant to say goodbye ...... University life is also much the same: a few years of youth, three or five friends, falling in love with lost love, skipping classes and failing classes, and finally in exchange for a certificate, the United States, the United States, the United States, the United States, the United States, the United States, the United States, the United States and other countries. The first thing you need to do is to get a certificate and go to the real world with a confused fear.

There are also different places, such as China's graduation indulgence is drinking dinner breakup confession plus wrestling beer bottles, the United Kingdom is the ceremony party all kinds of party, and in the U.S. I saw the legendary end of the carnival program - the collective nude run. The first thing you need to do is to get a good look at the real life of the American university.

My university is the University of California Irvine (University of California Irvine referred to as UCI), belonging to the U.S. public universities - the University of California system, which is a young branch of the University of California, both the rigor of the traditional university and the perfect system, but also unruly and youthful vigor.

Every year after the end of the end of the nude running carnival in the library, well, in fact, half-naked, you can see a lot of well-built handsome men and women.

The most prominent point of difference between American universities in China and Britain is the campus culture, the atmosphere is exceptionally strong and enthusiastic, walking on campus, two-thirds of the students are wearing clothes with the UCI logo, which is really not a free issue of uniforms, and sell quite expensive.

Campus culture is also reflected in the love of students, teachers and staff, all from the heart. UCI, for example, is ranked 30th in the nation and second in the University of California system, but almost all of the students I met were incredibly proud to say that UCI is the best school in the United States (not to mention Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and I'm afraid that UCLA and UC Berkeley, which are both in the University of California system, will not be convinced)

They are not blindly confident, but instead gave They are not blindly confident, but instead give several reasons:

First, the excellent location. It's only an hour from Los Angeles and San Diego, fifteen minutes from Disney, and ten minutes from Newport Beach (where Kobe and many other celebrities live);

Second, it's a safe and clean environment. You'll be disappointed if you've been to Los Angeles, but you'll feel good about America again if you come here, with villas and green spaces and palm trees on the beach, and no homeless people on the streets because the police, once they find them, take them to their cars and send them to the neighborhoods of L.A. (yes, the police really do this);

A corner of the park next to my house, and in contrast L.A. looks like it's been bombed.

Third, the super foodie rich and beautiful people. There is a saying in the study abroad circle: California has thousands of netizens, and UC Irvine accounts for half of them. Because of the safety, good location and suitable climate, this is the first choice of many immigrants to the city, there are all kinds of food, all kinds of luxury cars and beautiful women. Weekend to the shopping center to stroll around, China, Korea, Japan, Italy, France and Mexico, want to eat everything, Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche, recognize are not considered luxury cars, the real luxury are not named.

Fourth, the coolest mascot. American university campus culture is all-encompassing, each university has its own motto, school logo, school song, school team, campus traditions, stories and legends, exclusive colors, and the most indispensable and most adorable: mascot.

UCI's mascot is an anteater named Peter, born in 1965. There is no one who doesn't love him, and many celebrated his birthday on his 50th birthday.

The number one reason to choose UCI is the coolest mascot ever. This big adorable baby is everywhere, looking up, turning corners, sitting down, and being adorable everywhere.

The campus kiosk is full of its peripherals: dolls, clothes, mugs ......

It's at every sporting event:

It's sometimes the school bus driver

Sunglasses, shorts, flip-flops, and a laptop, just like one of the students! :

That's right, it graduated, and it has its own graduation suit:

Not only is its image everywhere, but it also has specialized gestures and sounds, and at every party, event, and even in some professors' classes, everyone joins together to make a gesture that symbolizes its pointy mouth, while simultaneously making the sound ZOT!ZOT!

For the 2014 commencement, UCI invited Barack Obama to come and speak, and one of the first things he did was to teach him this unique way of cheering and getting high after the former president.

Collective activities are the best way to unite people's hearts and improve cohesion and sense of honor, so the university can't do without all kinds of collective activities, but the activities of Chinese universities are loved and hated, and probably the first lesson of all Chinese college students is military training, the memories of sweat and tears. The official organization of the activities we are not very willing to participate in, self-organized need to be time-consuming and laborious all kinds of approvals.

But the collective activities of American universities, so you can not help but want to participate in them.

There is also the coolest school tradition: every fall before the start of a large event to break the Guinness Book of World Records, which currently holds the record: 6,084 people's dodgeball war, 2,888 people's flag war, 3,800 people's water gun war and 4,447 people pillow fight.

Wouldn't you want to participate in such a group activity?

Ever broken a world record that you can put on your resume?

The U.S. campus is very large, unlike Chinese campuses, where teaching buildings and dormitory buildings are neatly arranged. All kinds of buildings are scattered in all corners, in different forms. So the first thing to do when you come to campus is to get a map. For people like me who have no sense of direction, I can get lost with a map, so if I want to go to other departments and libraries, I walk while navigating with GOOGLE MAPS.

The center of the campus is a big park, very beautiful

Critters everywhere, the best recess activity is to feed the squirrels to the rabbits

All kinds of buildings in different styles, most of which were built by donations from alumni and big corporations

Three-storey fitness center with a huge climbing wall

In Chinese universities, it is often difficult to distinguish between a teacher and a student, because Many students are dressed in fashionable clothes, such as female college students, wearing makeup and high heels and satchels, which is very adult.

In American universities, you can't tell the difference between a teacher and a student because everyone dresses in the same casual (earth), T-shirt, shorts and pullover.

Classes are decentralized, the course material, so everyone is carrying a big bag, looks more like Chinese high school students.

There are many choices of university dormitories abroad: single rooms, double rooms, and suites with shared kitchens and dining rooms. You can choose from different locations, mixed sexes, and different nationalities. U.S. university dormitories are generally close to the campus, the price is relatively low, but the number is limited to accommodate only one-third of the student's needs, the application can not only apply for their own outside the rental housing.

The U.S. university dormitory management is not as strict as in China, the host mom, to the point of power outages, night stay, illegal appliances, these are not, but also need to comply with the corresponding rules, such as maintaining public **** health, do not affect other people, if you can not do it will be the other roommates complaints, once verified, may lose the eligibility to live in the dormitory.

The U.S. university cafeterias offer packages that can be purchased in advance for the entire school year, and the food tastes well, the cheap ones are hard to swallow, and the expensive ones are ten pounds of fat a year down the road. Many students will choose to cook for themselves, especially international students, can not give up the Chinese stomach. Before going abroad to study, it is best to go to two New Oriental, one is the New Oriental to learn English, the second is the New Oriental to learn chef. After going abroad, no matter whether you are a bully or a scum, introverted or extroverted, if you will squirrel guillotine fish Mao bloodwang, the best network is not yours.

Burger fries

Inside the cafeteria

Outside the cafeteria

Bring some goulash to peter

UCI is equipped with school buses, you can take to the business district, but the line time is fixed, so most of the students will buy a car, which does not represent the general situation of the United States University, because California is a special existence, where no car completely can not live.

Used cars are not expensive, open a few years can still be sold, but parking is not cheap, eighty dollars a month to buy a parking permit, there are people patrolling and checking, and if the heart is lucky, you will receive a ticket.

Each student at the beginning of the school year to select courses, this is a crucial step, popular courses like double eleven seconds, if not quick eyes and hands rush, good professors of the class in the blink of an eye full.

The wireless network covers the entire campus, the speed is very fast, the students are in class with the computer to take notes, I have wondered why American universities are not afraid of the students in the classroom to play with cell phones and computers, and later realized that the American university courses are tense, the examination is strict, the professors are all the famous arrests, do not attend classes properly will really fail the course.

The general arrangement of undergraduate courses in American universities is like this: one quiz in two weeks, one lecture in a month, three to five small papers in a semester, and group work, midterm exams, and finally the final exam. Compared to them, Chinese universities are really too easy, and most of them just need to scratch the surface at the end of the semester, and it's easy to muddle through a class on a temporary basis.

Because books are expensive in the US, and textbooks are even more expensive, and because there are long lists of books for each course at US universities, the library is the best place for students to study. Popular must-read books are up for grabs, and study rooms are up for grabs. By the end of the semester, there are students everywhere rushing to report for review, and the library will be open 24 hours a day, so you can eat, live and sleep inside.

Lunch time, food stalls

Under the teaching building, full of study

Some schools, in order to ease the pressure of students, also placed dogs in front of the library, so that students can play with dogs.

There are also schools that have superstitious traditions, a bite of the apple to bless themselves not to fail.

When it comes to interpersonal relationships in the United States, the first reaction is equality and simplicity, unlike China, where there are so many human relationships. Some people think that the United States is like the movie, the children are directly address their parents by name. I used to have that impression, but after I came here, I realized that it is not true. First of all, I haven't seen any children directly call their parents by their first names; secondly, there are human feelings in the US, too, as students give gifts or gift cards to their teachers for Thanksgiving and Christmas (usually ten or twenty dollars); and lastly, there is both equality and inequality between the different grades.

Take the teacher-student relationship as an example: the equality side means that in domestic universities, students are often asked to help teachers do some voluntary work, which normal students will not refuse, and in American universities, if it is a lot of medium- and long-term work need to be paid.

It's $11.25 an hour, California's minimum wage, but it's a good way to get acquainted with your professors.

The inequality side means that teachers enjoy many privileges, such as the parking lot nearest is for faculty and staff, and students can only park in more distant areas, for example, students are not allowed to eat in the classroom and listen to the report, while PhD students and teachers meeting to listen to lectures will provide a variety of drinks and food.

Undergraduate classroom door

Doctoral students and teachers conference room door

Reporting meetings tend to rush to be willing, just because of the free food and drink

Listen to the report can also be eaten while walking, Americans do not exercise will really become a fat country

Chinese and American university teachers

Chinese college students are happier than American college students, but American college teachers are happier than Chinese college teachers. They don't have endless meetings, materials to hand in, or lesson plans to write, and they have plenty of logistical support, with pantries and printing rooms on every office floor. The school also provides many services such as childcare, moving, finance, and medical care. They either love research or teaching, and on top of that, any number of hobbies. You'll see one of the medical professors playing the violin on campus or in the library, or you'll be invited to a ride organized by one of the department chairs. Most simply and directly, you can decorate your office to your liking.

My impersonal office

The office of the professor next door

The offices of other professors

Well, the characteristic is one word: mess

After looking at the clothing, food, housing, learning, living, and entertainment of the American university, I have to admit that the United States, as the world's most developed country in the education industry, deserves it. Hopefully, Chinese universities can catch up and really realize the freedom of thought, spiritual independence, like my alma mater, Shandong University's motto: "Gas has a great deal to learn," he said.

From hustle and bustle to empty, graduation, farewell, are another beginning

Come to the first cup of coffee at UCI

The last cup, we, see you later